Letter: Our children have become our canaries

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mount Timpanogos stands higher than the rest as thick smoke envelops the mountains and Utah county with poor air quality as crews continue to battle the Coal Hollow fire near Highway 6 on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018.Pity the canary in the coal mine. A small, fragile non-volunteer, which breathes at a faster rate, is offered as sacrifice to alert miners that the air is dangerously contaminated.

Infants breathe three times the amount of air for their body weight as do adults. Our children are now our canaries.

Every time fuels are burned, whether in a power plant or an internal combustion engine, the poisonous chemicals and particles of the exhaust are…